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Darling Winston launch at the London Library

Jennie Churchill reads letter: ‘I am quite disheartened about you’

Darling Winston, the book of letters between Winston Churchill and his mother Jennie awarded a 5* review by The Daily Telegraph, was launched in front of a large crowd at the London Library on 20 September. Among those attending were Randolph and Jennie Churchill, great-great-grandson and great-great-grandaughter of Britain’s wartime leader.

Editor David Lough explained how he had found the letters both fun and revealing while he researched his earlier book No More Champagne. ‘At its root, this is a story about motherhood- extreme motherhood!’ David explained. To illustrate the point, Jennie Churchill read from one of her namesake’s letters to her twenty-two year-old son, then a young cavalry officer stationed in India. ‘I confess I am quite disheartened about you,’ his mother wrote. ‘You seem to have no real purpose in life & won’t realise at the age of 22 that for a man life means work, & hard work if you mean to succeed.’

Darling Winston is published by Head of Zeus in the UK and (as My Darling Winston) by Pegasus Books in the USA. Signed copies of the UK edition can be purchased at https://www.davidlough.uk.